The present invention relates to an aiming device for any weapon that fires a projectile at a target which is in the line of sight from the weapon. More particularly, the invention relates to a laser aiming device which shines a laser beam on the target and enables a marksman to preview the area of anticipated impact of the projectile.
Aiming a weapon is often difficult. The target sighting device, i.e., the gunsight of the weapon, must be placed at the marksman's eye, and especially with handheld weapons such as rifles and the like, this may not be a comfortable or steady position for holding or firing the weapon. Further, the usual procedures of sighting on a target and the designs of standard sighting devices greatly restrict the marksman's field of view of the target and, on occasion, time must be spent to locate the target in the sighting device. Additionally, a marksman may have to close one eye to adequately sight on a target, greatly restricting his field of view and rendering him unable to know about events taking place in his immediate vicinity. Conventional aiming devices do not permit the marksman or operator of the weapon to preview precisely the impact area of the weapon but only permit the marksman to visualize the general field of the target. As a result, aiming efficiency is rather low. The aiming efficiency can be improved with the help of specialized equipment, such as radar, which requires additional experienced personnel for its operation. Still further, weapons must often be fired at poorly visible targets, e.g., at obscure targets and under unfavorable weather conditions. Additionally, great speed of aiming and ease of aiming are both hard to attain with conventional aiming devices.
Conventional weapon aiming devices are either optical and use front and rear sights, or they are infrared, or they are optical and mechanical or electromechanical as in larger guns such as tank guns, or they are electronic as used with non-manually controlled weapons such as antiaircraft weapons, particularly those controlled by radar. Each of the various conventional techniques of aiming a weapon has at least some of the above described drawbacks.
One technique for overcoming the foregoing difficulties encountered in aiming a weapon is to project a laser beam or other appropriate light beam onto the target. When the target is illuminated by the laser or light beam, the trigger of the weapon is operated. If the laser or other light beam is properly zeroed in on the aiming point of the weapon, the projectile fired by the weapon will strike where the light is shining. An improved device of this type is described in copending application Ser. No. 769,533, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,754, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. That device includes a mounting support which is fixedly attached to the weapon and the rest of the laser aiming device is attached to its mounting support. The aiming device includes zeroing means connected between the mounting support and the rest of the device and which enable the aiming point of the laser beam to be readjusted up and down or sideways after the aiming device is mounted on the weapon.
In laser aiming devices, when the laser is operated, the laser beam is projected toward the target and is normally invisible. When it strikes the target, it forms a visible dot thereon. When the marksman has moved the weapon so that the visible dot is over the target, he operates the weapon. In the aiming device of the aforesaid application, the laser is activated by the marksman partially squeezing the trigger of the weapon. With the trigger partially squeezed, the weapon is aimed. When the weapon has been aimed, the marksman completes operating the trigger of the weapon. The projectile fired from the weapon should impact on the illuminated target if the laser beam has been properly zeroed in with the weapon.
In any laser aiming device for use on a weapon, such as a rifle, the laser emits a monochromatic light beam, e.g. a red color light. At night, during heavily overcast conditions, indoors or in a darkened environment, the beam of light shining on the target is easily visible. However, outdoors during the day and in a bright environment, the ambient light effectively overwhelms the dot of laser light on the target making it difficult for the marksman to observe.